


Temporary, Exquisite Release

by ergowritesoccasionally



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff and Angst, Love, M/M, Missing Scene, POV Third Person Limited, The most beautiful form of it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-26 17:46:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18183773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ergowritesoccasionally/pseuds/ergowritesoccasionally
Summary: “Ash, why did you stop trying to send me back to Japan?”





	Temporary, Exquisite Release

Ash could practically breathe in the intimacy and gentleness of the evening, sitting quietly alone as a half set sun intruded the window, streaks of warmth on his ripped jeans. He had never wanted to live on so bad in his life, simply to spend another hour with the beacon that had spawned in his very own apartment. Burning, he had come to unashamedly love the beacon, a love so strong he felt as though he could catch flame just thinking about it. He had felt the sun, he had felt it just now, and he’d be a poetic fool to say the two couldn’t compare, but his understanding of Eiji made it was a simply logical conclusion. A Japanese boy who had been shot by a mere factor of chance into Ash’s crazy, fucked up world, the same magnitude and impact of a bullet. The pain of it, too. 

“Overindulgence.” he muttered to himself. And bingo, Ash was able to recognize that he had infiltrated Eiji’s life far too deeply to a terrifying point where he was willing to kill himself just to feel more alive around that boy again. He didn’t care, though. This was the first time he understood what the word love had truly meant. Romantic, friendship, or admiration, it seized a definition. Again, Ash could give less of a damn. 

“Ash.” Eiji had returned, calling for the boy in a quiet, slightly accented tone.

Ash’s philosophies and reasoning all puddled the moment he had caught glimpse of Eiji’s tired, but nevertheless eager eyes focusing solely on him. “Eiji.” he returned. 

“Sing told me you would be here.” 

“Did he? How did he know?” Ash wondered.

“Aren’t you here often?” Eiji walked over and took a seat next to the lynx. 

Ash looked to the sun as though it had the answer, leaving a trail of an unintelligible colour when he looked away from the violent light. Violent. “I think I’ve been here one time or another.”

Eiji, looking out the window, said, “It’s a beautiful place. I think we should come here every night.”

We. Ash smiled. 

Eiji, seeing this, smiled right back. “What are you smiling about?”

Ash, perhaps grinning even wider, replied with a sweet, “Nothing.” 

The two had laughed for a brief moment or so, no particular reason aside from each other’s company, until Eiji asked him, “Ash, why did you stop trying to send me back to Japan?”

Ash had a simple answer for that. The fact was he had come to have great admiration and love for his perception of Eiji around the time they had first associated. The article, which seemed ever trivial now, gave Eiji a chance to show how much not sympathy, but empathy he had shown Ash in spite of how their realities couldn’t be more opposites. As time grew and Eiji had revealed more traits willingly that opposed Ash’s own world, Ash had developed feelings for the boy he couldn’t put into a single world. The only thing he could definitively say about he and Eiji’s relationship was that it would be simply cruel to separate the two, especially at his own doing. 

“I know I’m putting your life in danger, but I’d sooner die than having never met you.” Ash told him, a slight tremor in the way those words of pure love and connection slipped off his tongue. “And it’s very selfish, so if I’m always risking your life, I’d do anything to keep you safe.”

Eiji’s breath hitched. Ash had seen it. A wild, irrational thought had intruded Eiji’s head. It was unmistakable. 

Eiji acted as though it hadn’t happened when he said, “I feel the same.”

“Why?” Ash inquired, incidentally aloud. 

Eiji thought about it. “You’re so much so different than me, yet I feel like I can understand you. Knowing you, I just get it, and I’m so glad I was able to find this.” A pause, then Eiji mumbled the word, “Happiness.”

Ash’s own breath hitched the same way Eiji’s had earlier. He understood everything about himself and what Eiji was feeling then to the very last detail. Slowly, as though he were testing cold waters, Ash’s pinky discretely inched towards Eiji’s own. Pale, American skin entwined with one of tan, Japanese descent, and oh how Ash wished to one day visit Japan, see its real beauty.

**Author's Note:**

> Just came out of surgery, and figured while I recovered I'd write a small piece. This particular couple has always fascinated me, especially with their ability to display genuine love toward one another without being explicitly sexual. Hope you enjoy :)


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